Islands in a Far Sea : : The Fate of Nature in Hawaii, Revised Edition / / John L. Culliney.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UHP eBook Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Culliney, John L.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2005]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (432 p.) :; 76 illus., 9 maps

First published in 1988, Islands in a Far Sea offers a comprehensive environmental history of Hawai‘i. This thoroughly revised edition begins with an up-to-date account of the geological formation and shaping of the Islands, their colonization by plants and animals, and the patterns of ecology and evolution that unfolded in nurturing seas and on breath-taking landscapes. This book tells the story of human interaction with Hawai‘i's native landscapes and rich biological heritage. The author’s accessible language allows readers to grasp basic geological and biological principles and to understand the perhaps surprising vulnerability of Hawaiian ecosystems--which have coevolved with volcanoes--to human impact. Islands in a Far Sea includes many well-documented historical examples of such impacts, featuring growth and greed, fears and foibles as humans confronted endemic nature in Hawai‘i. Citing a large array of sources, the author makes it possible for interested readers to probe more deeply the changes in natural systems that have ensued on all of the Hawaiian Islands. To date the result has been the tragic reduction of a unique and benign biota. However, the book holds out hope that current efforts to protect what is left of Hawai‘i's flora and fauna in their remaining wild settings may yet succeed.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface to the Revised Edition -- Acknowledgments -- English-Metric Conversions -- part one Island Evolution: A Hawaiian Primer -- 1. Out of the Earth -- 2. From the Forces of Life -- 3. Arrival and Adaptation -- part two :Th e Surrounding Sea -- 4. Blue Abyss and Twilight Slopes -- 5. A Place for Whales -- 6. The Coral Rim -- 7. Decline of a Lagoon -- 8. The Seal and the Turtle -- 9. Seabirds High and Low -- Part three: Shores of Many Moods -- 10. Lonely Rocks and Atolls -- 11. Coasts of Change -- Part four: Green Crags and Canyons -- 12. Rain Forests in Transition -- 13. Freshwaters -- 14. Dying Songs: Hawai‘i’s Forest Birds -- 15. Insects and Snails: Evolutionary Tales -- Part five: Volcanoes in the Sky -- 16. Cloudlands and Drylands -- 17. Alpine Fire and Ice -- part six: The Fate of the Living Land -- 18. Primeval Hawai‘i -- 19. ‘Āina and Ahupua‘a -- 20. The Remaking of Eden -- 21. Waves of the Future -- Notes -- Index